This Is a Forty (40) Day Lenten Devotional Prepared by the Men and Women of Dayspring Wesleyan Church
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This is a Forty (40) Day Lenten Devotional prepared by the men and women of Dayspring Wesleyan Church. The purpose of Lent is for reflecting on one’s spiritual relationship with Je- sus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The Lenten Season is a time of repentance, praise, worship, reading the Bible, and prayer as we prepare our hearts for the Easter celebration,. We are offering this devotional to assist in your 40 days of reflection. Would you prayerfully commit to reading a devotion each day and spend some quiet time with Jesus Christ? This devotional has been prepared by many people of various ages and back- grounds at Dayspring. The wisdom of these people may be exactly what you may need to hear during these 40 days of Lent. Read with an open mind and see the unique perspectives of those sitting around you at Dayspring. Thank you to each person or couple who wrote a devotion. You matter at Dayspring and to those who are the church at Dayspring. Thank you to the Dayspring staff for their vision and humility in preparing this devotional. Thank you to our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. May we steadfastly praise him above all else in 2021. He has given each of us abilities to help and sup- port one another, and we are eternally grateful for the many gifts he bestows upon us as believers, disciples, and as a church. Day 1 - February 24 Day 2 - February 25 Read: Genesis 9:12 Read: Genesis 15:1, 7 God promises that he will never flood the earth-sounds pretty straight for- You are going through Lent, so congratulations on your second day! Don’t ward and simple, right? Well, not exactly. Yes, he is promising to never flood worry, after a week, it will become easier to pass on what you gave up. the earth again, but he is also trying to show us something more. Through the With this verse that was provided today, I want to share how it pertains to flood, he has reset and renewed the earth. He basically gave us a second me in my life and how it can pertain to you in yours. I love and am very chance. I don’t know about you, but when God gives me a second chance then passionate about the sport of football. I’ve been playing since I was 6, but I I am going to take it. To top it all off, he says that the rainbow will be a re- haven’t always been able to connect God with football. I even started to put minder to us that God is faithful, loving, and will keep his promise to us. football over God. In these verses it says, “I am your shield, your very great reward.” When I Life can be really hard sometimes. We lose people we love, or we go through read this verse at the beginning of my middle school football season, I real- trauma that changes how we think and how we see the world, and it can be ized that God will protect me, in mind and body, on the football field and in so hard to get past these things. But, what I think God is trying to communi- life. So, I made a change, and I put God back above football. Therefore, he became my shield. cate in this verse is he is teaching us about trust. Even when we hit the really low times in our life, we still have to trust in God because he is the only one You see, God will protect you through this trial of Lent, because the act of who can bring us through the pain. Every good relationship begins with trust. giving something up is just as important to him as it is to you. He wants to As believers, we are called to trust that a God who is all powerful that creat- help you through this, and he wants to be your shield. All you have to do is ed this world and us will not only bring us through the pain but will help us ask him. “God help me. Help me put this challenge behind me and be my pro- flourish into strong believers. However, to get there, you must first trust that tector, because you are an amazing God.” when God promised to renew the world, he also promised to renew you and Thanks for reading this, and my prayer is that you will not give up on this give you the second chance he believes we deserve. trial. Isabella Hilligoss Joey Bradac 2 2 Day 3 - February 26 Day 4 - February 27 Read: Genesis 17:1 Read: Genesis 26:24 As Christians, all of us at some point have had an encounter with God. Wheth- This verse is the second time we read that God has appeared to Isaac. It can er you were saved at a young age or came to God later in life, it makes no dif- be broken down into three parts. The first part is God establishing his author- ference when you came. The point is that you left the encounter changed. ity over Isaac. Isaac grew up watching his father develop a spiritual relation- Anytime we have an encounter with God should be a catalyst for change in our ship with God. The God of his father is now becoming his God. lives, including meeting with him at church on Sundays. In the scripture today, we read about one of Abram’s encounters with God. The second part is a command to not be afraid because God is with him. God had already called him to leave his country and his home and follow him Many times in the midst of our troubles, it can be hard to see God because we back in chapter 12. Now, in chapter 17, God is reinforcing the promise he made allow our fears to get out of control. When our fears become too big, it suc- to Abram to make him a “father of many nations” (verse 5). cessfully renders us useless for the kingdom of God. One of the signs of this promise was when God changes Abram’s name to Abra- The final statement is a promise from God. God had made a similar promise to ham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. This is an outward symbol to people around Abraham, and here, he makes the promise to Isaac. God is using this passage them that a change has taken place. They had an encounter with God, and they to move Isaac along his own faith journey. Instead of hearing about God left changed. from his father, Abraham, he needed to encounter God for himself. Isaac needed God’s reassurance that he was still with him, even after Abraham had As believers, there should be outward signs to those around us of our faith. passed away. When we become saved, we are to “put off your old self…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians Looking over your own life, don’t you sometimes need God to reassure you 4: 22-24). 1 Peter 1:16 reminds us to be holy because God is holy. To be holy too? Reflecting on the truth, we learn in this verse we can ask ourselves some simply means to be set apart. very important questions to help us grow spiritually during this season of Lent. Have I recognized God’s authority over all my life or are there parts What are we doing to show that we have truly been changed? Don’t walk that I still need to surrender to him? Sometimes, we surrender an area and away from an encounter with the Lord the same as when you came to him. Let then something will draw us back and we’ll need to surrender it again. Think it show! Love those around you, live a life of integrity and be set apart for of it like layers of an onion. What fears in my life are preventing me from him. seeing God with me in my situation? Finally, what promises of God can I hang onto when I am struggling? Rachel Osborne Becky Bradac 2 2 Day 5 - February 28 Day 6 - March 1 Read: Genesis 28:15 Read: Exodus 3:6, 14 God will not leave me, and God will not leave you. God will never leave nor forsake his community of people. God loves you more than you can ever imag- ine. This almost seems crazy because that deep love is not only individualistic, In order to be a true Christian, we have to accept God for who he is. The but it is community-spread love through the vast nations. reality is that God is who he says he is. Absolute and infinite, the beginning and the end. Too many times in our life we think that we are in charge only We may forget about God in times of our life, pushing him aside, thinking we to find out how mortal and wrong we really are. Many of us operate with a can do this life on our own strength. God wants us to come back to him and God of our own conception. Our hope is in returning to God’s word as writ- to who he created us to be. The sovereign, loving God will not let myself or ten in the bible.